What to Celebrate May 18 thru 24, 2020
Celebration Ideas for May 4 – 10, 2020
It’s a warm(ish), (kinda) sunny May day here! No, it’s not perfect, but we’ll take it. And we’ll enjoy it.
Hopefully you’re enjoying it too. And you’re planning to find ways big and small to continue enjoying each day as it comes.
As usual, we’re here to help. So do take a peek and plan your week. And of course, remember to …
Enjoy!
Celebrate for the rest of May
This week’s picks for May’s monthly celebrations work together beautifully! Add eggs to a salad (or make egg salad!). Use salsa to punch up scrambled eggs, or to top off poached eggs. Use vinegar in your homemade salad dressing. And to help those poached eggs hold their shape. And sweet Vidalia onions make all of it taste better!
National Salad Month: Up your salad game this month! Salads are more than leafy greens with some other veggies topped with a drizzle of dressing. Nuts & seeds can quickly add texture & variety to these salads. But don’t forget salad doesn’t always even have to include veggies. Like fruit salad! It makes an excellent breakfast or lunch side. And salad doesn’t have to be a side, either. It can be the main course! Check out this list of 36 salads, which includes a little bit of just about everything. If you can’t find several salads here to try, you’re just not trying!
National Salsa Month: Another healthy food with tons of options is salsa! And just like salads don’t necessarily need greens, salsas don’t necessarily need tomatoes. Find your next favorite salsa in this list of 27 salsa recipes.
National Egg Month: Eggs have a bit of a mixed reputation. They keep getting blamed for health issues like high cholesterol. But in truth they’re not only great protein sources but also full of other important vitamins & minerals. And like most things in life, moderation is key! So find new ways to use eggs this month & make them a permanent part of your healthy diet.
National Sweet Vidalia Onions Month: Vidalias, the most famous of the sweet onions, usually hit the market in April (this year’s official pack date was April 16). So May seems like the perfect time to celebrate these delightful onions we’ve been waiting to return since fall. Use them in everything! But especially for anything where you need raw onions. They’re so good you can almost just snack on ’em!
National Vinegar Month: Vinegar Day is in November, but for May we celebrate this versatile liquid all month! Punch up recipes with its acidic tang. Use it to pickle something. Use it as a cleaner. Use it in your garden to control pests. Of course, you’ll want to pick the right vinegar for the task. There’s more than a dozen kinds, from the common apple cider & white to balsamic, rice, honey, and more.
Weekly Celebrations for May’s 3rd Full Week
Have some fun, stay safe, honor more healthcare workers, & learn about traditional livestock during the 3rd week of May.
National EMS Week: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) workers are always important parts of the healthcare system. But like doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, & others they’re especially valued right now. And also like other healthcare workers they’re probably much too busy to actually celebrate the days & weeks dedicated in their honor. So we must do it for them. At the very least, thank any EMS workers you know. They’re risking their lives every day to help save ours.
National Unicycle Week (May 17 – 23, 2020): Whether you love riding unicycles or you’ve never been on one, this is the week to celebrate the fun of riding around on one wheel. And good balance! The week kicks off with Ride a Unicycle Day on the 17th. So get out there and do that! And since riding (no matter how many wheels you’re using) is something that’s fun to do even alone, you can celebrate even if you still need to remain physically distant from others. Of course, you can also maintain distance while riding with family & friends …
International Heritage Breeds Week (May 17 – 23, 2020): Celebrate the diversity that is traditional livestock & poultry. Learn more about heritage breeds and why we should protect them from extinction.
National Tire Safety Week (May 18 – 24, 2020): You may be driving less these days (or maybe not). But no matter how much or little you drive, you need to make sure your vehicle is maintained and safe for you & your passengers. That includes making sure your tires are in good shape and properly inflated.
Celebration Days coming up for May 18 thru May 24
Start the week with virtual visits to your relatives & some museums. Then avoid dirty dishes, be nice to the bees, and go ride a scooter.
Of course you’ll want to savor strawberries & cream, devil’s food cake, and a juice slush, among other things.
How will you create a fun-tastic week for yourself?
May 18:
Visit Your Relatives Day: Well, depending on where you live & the health of your relatives, physically visiting may not be possible this year. But a virtual visit probably is! So do that.
International Museum Day: Celebrate museums and all the amazing & educational experiences you can find there. This year many museums are going digital to celebrate the day. But they may also celebrate again in November with in-person events! Check with your favorite museums to see what they may be doing both on the 18th and in November.
Supply Chain Professionals Day: Who knew a tiny little virus would show the world just how many moving parts it takes to make sure store shelves stay stocked with toilet paper, paper towels, and assorted cleaning supplies!? And how easily that chain can get tied into knots. Well, probably nobody. But supply chain professionals already knew. And now that you know, don’t you think they deserve recognition? After all, those shortages—while still ongoing to some degree—could have been much worse!
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day: We’ve come a long way since the days when getting infected with HIV was an almost guaranteed death sentence. Today treatment has turned it into a manageable, chronic condition for many. But not for everyone. And tens of thousands of people still get infected each year. So the goal is still to prevent infection, and a vaccine is still the best hope for that. So research continues.
National No Dirty Dishes Day: On this day we don’t have to do the dishes because we don’t create any dirty dishes! If restaurants near you are offering dine-in again and you feel safe doing so, eat all meals out! Or order take-out/delivery & use only disposable plates, cups, and utensils to eat with. If you order only things you can eat without forks/spoons (breakfast sandwich, pizza, etc) you won’t even need to worry about those utensils.
National Cheese Souffle Day: Mmmm … cheese … Include cheese souffle in your take-out/delivery order to also celebrate this delightful day. Or make a cheese souffle at home. But of course that will create dirty dishes, so you may need to decide which celebration you’re going to do.
May 19:
May Ray Day: If the sun is shining for this day, get out & enjoy those solar rays. Otherwise, find other rays to celebrate. You can do it!
National Scooter Day: This is the day families get some fresh air & exercise together while also having fun! Because riding a scooter is fun. But also exercise. So grab your scooters (you do have scooters?) and have some fun. You deserve it! Remember to practice all safety measures if you encounter crowds.
National Devil’s Food Cake Day: Celebrate what is quite possibly the most heavenly of cakes. Rich, dark, moist chocolate cake covered in luscious chocolate frosting (ok, lots of people don’t use chocolate frosting, but we just. don’t. understand. that!). Buying a devil’s food cake to celebrate is, of course, perfectly acceptable. But you know we’re gonna suggest you make your devil’s food cake from scratch. Yum! (The recipe we linked to doesn’t actually use chocolate frosting, but the cake is divine. And just swap in this chocolate frosting & you’re good to go!).
May 20:
Pick Strawberries Day: If you can go strawberry picking, that would be the perfect way to celebrate. If not, maybe plant strawberries you’ll be able to pick later?
World Bee Day: Bees! We need bees. All kinds of bees. So maybe celebrate them by planting flowers that attract & feed them. Maybe even put up a bee house to give them someplace to live? (Yes, some kinds of bees love these boxes).
National Rescue Dog Day: Lots of people have discovered the joys of rescue dogs during this pandemic, either thru adopting or fostering. If you’ve been thinking about doing either, this is the day to get moving on that plan. And if you’ve already welcomed a rescue dog into your home (or if you can’t for some reason), help spread the word about this day.
Eliza Doolittle Day: Do you know Eliza Doolittle? If you’re a fan of My Fair Lady or the play it was based on, Pygmalion, you do. And you’ll happily watch your favorite version. Or listen to the song that proclaims this day, Just You Wait.
National Be a Millionaire Day: Who hasn’t dreamed of being a millionaire? Probably only people who were born into millions. And this is the day to make plans for turning those dreams into reality. Or at least putting yourself on a path to more financial stability. If you still have a job, start putting that plan into action right away. If you’re currently unemployed you can still make plans. And also make your self a promise to put that plan into action as soon as the economy starts moving and you can get back to work.
National Juice Slush Day: Hopefully it’s a warm, sunny day, because that’s the perfect kind of day to enjoy an icy juice slush out in the yard. But even if it’s cold & rainy you can brighten your day with this drink. You’ll probably just prefer to do it indoors. You might even make your juice slush with some of those strawberries you picked!
National Quiche Lorraine Day: Make yourself an eggy, bacony Quiche Lorraine for dinner. It’s so quick & simple you’ll have plenty of time for curling up with your rescue dog & watching My Fair Lady. Or making those plans for being a millionaire.
May 21:
I Need a Patch For That Day: Whatever it is you need a patch for, this is the day to get it.
Red Nose Day: Like a lot of things this year, Red Nose Day has gone digital. Even the red noses themselves! So help combat child poverty and get yourself a digital red nose.
Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day: Have you been eating lots of comfort food lately? You’re not alone! But those foods are usually less than healthful. And they’re rarely fruits or veggies! So on this day we get back on track & start eating more fruits and vegetables. Because that’s how we keep our bodies strong.
National Stop the Bleed Day: Do you know what to do if someone is bleeding from a serious injury? Not a cut or scrape. Those are easy. But a traumatic injury, like a gunshot or car accident, where seconds can mean the different between life and death. If not, consider getting trained. You never know whose life you could save.
National Waitstaff Day: With restaurants slowly re-opening, waitstaff will be back on the job. But it’ll be a different job from the one they left, with lots of new rules. And most likely face masks to protect you and their co-workers. If you feel safe enough to go out to eat, do that and thank your wait-person for the excellent service under weird circumstances. And leave a generous tip. You know they deserve it just for showing up these days!
National Strawberries and Cream Day: Enjoy a light, refreshing dessert of strawberries & cream . It’ll count as part of your Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day celebration. And you can use some of those strawberries you picked on the 20th!
May 22:
Don’t Fry Day: Memorial day weekend, and the unofficial kickoff to summer, is the perfect time for a reminder to wear sunscreen so you don’t fry!
World Goth Day: If you’re part of the goth scene, celebrate for this day. In-person events may or may not be happening near you. But surely you & your friends can come up a virtual way to celebrate? Check the events page on the day’s official website too.
National Solitaire Day: Do you play solitaire? Unless you’re playing online, it’s probably one of the few card games you’ve been able play these days! Luckily there’s lots of variations. And actually this day honors the day the Solitaire game became a fixture on Windows computers. So playing on your computer seems like the right way to celebrate. But if you prefer to play with actual cards, we won’t tell!
National Craft Distillery Day: Celebrate the small distilleries making big names for themselves in their communities. Have a drink made with handcrafted spirits from a craft distillery near you.
World Paloma Day: If your craft spirit of choice happens to be tequila, it’ll be simple for you to celebrate 2 days at once: Just make a Paloma with your craft tequila! But you can also use your favorite non-craft tequila in this refreshing drink.
National Vanilla Pudding Day: With all those drinks, you’ll want to be sure you eat something! And make one of those somethings a creamy dish of vanilla pudding! Make it yourself, preferably from scratch, for the best flavor.
May 23:
World Turtle Day: Turtles! Help keep them safe in the wild. And if you have a pet turtle, make sure its habitat is as natural as possible. 💚 🐢
National Lucky Penny Day: A penny doesn’t buy much anymore. But finding one could still bring you luck! At any rate, if you see one it couldn’t hurt to pick it up. Well, as long as you disinfect it thoroughly that is … Gosh, now lucky pennies seem a lot less fun than they used to. 😕
National Taffy Day: Well, since lucky pennies are now kinda icky, soothe your soul—and your need to celebrate—with some taffy. Did you know once upon a time that lucky penny could have bought you some taffy? It’s true!
May 24:
International Tiara Day: Wear your tiara! You know you deserve it.
National Scavenger Hunt Day: When was the last time you had a scavenger hunt? Well this is the day to get creative & send the kids or co-workers on a hunt for “treasures”!
National Escargot Day: After a long, hard day of wearing a tiara and supervising a scavenger hunt, you deserve a treat. Would escargot qualify? If you said, yes, have your significant other/parent/friend make you this super-simple escargot dish.
National Yucatan Shrimp Day: And after your escargot appetizer, have some plump, tender shrimp in Yucatan Sauce. The sauce is garlicky and buttery with a nice kick. And apparently Doc Ford’s started selling their Yucatan Sauce last year on May 24, which is what prompted them to start this day!
